Industry leaders are anxious to hear more details of a planned customs inspection station in Tijuana that will for the first time allow Mexican and U.S. officials to screen shipments of fresh produce before they reach the U.S. border at Otay Mesa, Calif.

The facility could handle 200 trucks per day, said Alejandra Mier y Teran, executive director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce. She attended a sneak peek of the facility in October and speculated the change in Mexico’s administration after an election may have set back the opening of the facility temporarily.

Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, Nogales, Ariz. said the little-known pilot project near Otay Mesa may prove a valuable concept for other ports.

“I hope that if it works they extend that same sort of thinking to Nogales, which is a much bigger port of entry for fruits and vegetables,” he said.

January 9, 2013 - International Longshoremen's Association officials broke off two days of scheduled negotiations on a local contract for New York-New Jersey dockworkers after objecting to employers' proposed changes.

Federally mediated negotiations are still scheduled next week on the coastwide master contract between the ILA and United States Maritime Alliance, the umbrella group representing employers in East and Gulf coast ports.

Bargaining between the ILA and the New York Shipping Association on the ILA-NYSA local contract opened Wednesday morning but ended abruptly after sharp disagreements over work practices and other issues.

Union President Harold Daggett and other ILA leaders walked out after the NYSA proposed "revolutionary changes" in work practices at the Port of New York and New Jersey, ILA spokesman James McNamara said.

The NYSA is seeking productivity improvements and changes to work rules, some of which predate containeriza…

The very latest from the East Coast/Gulf Coast port strike scene is that the International Longshoremen’s Association has walked out of federal mediation talks. According to Joe Bonney of the Journal of Commerce, “ILA walked out of NY-NJ local contract talks today, objecting to proposed changes. Coastwide bargaining session still on for next week.”

Orders will be taken from Jan. 12 until Feb. 3, and cookies will be delivered beginning Feb. 27. Booths will be set up between Feb. 27 and March 17 in locations around the Metro area.

Funds are used by GSEM for programs for girls, for adult volunteer training and for maintaining three local Girl Scout camps. Troops use their funds for everything from field trips to community service projects.

The extraction of pectin from mango peels is being eyed for commercialization this year. The extraction is a new technology developed by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) and the Department of Science and Technology.

Pectin is a group of carbohydrates used mainly as a stabilizer, and as gelling and thickening agent by the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

“The country imports 100 percent of its pectin needs, and by fully commercializing the technology, we could start establishing domestic firms that could gradually supply the pectin needs of the Philippine market,” PhilMech Executive Director Rex L. Bingabing said in a recent press conference.

Data from the Department of Trade and Industry showed that the country imported about 94,848 kilos of pectin, valued at $52.38 million in 2011. Bingabing sees an opportunity in the production of pectin from mango peels as the country annua…

Exceptional grading, standardization and auditing services are the benchmarks that were set by USDA’s Fresh and Processed Products Divisions. The two organizations within USDA supported the produce industry for nearly a century, providing quality grading and auditing services that businesses and consumers could trust.

Now, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has merged the two divisions into one unit that provides the same excellent service. The new Specialty Crops Inspection (SCI) Division offers voluntary, audit-based inspection programs – utilizing Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices (GAP/GHP). We will also…

Hamad Mkopi an agronomist with the Association of Mango Growers (C) shows Beatus Malema, assistant director, Crop Promotion Section in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives (in glass) varieties of mangoes at the just-ended Fourth Mango Tasting Festival in Dar es Salaam. (Photo: Correspondent Beatrice Philemon).Amagro, Association of Mango Growers has reported an increase in members by 100 newcomers and production with sells of more than 3,000 seedlings.

This increase has also been matched with the expansion of market links with a pivotal point being reached at the just ended three-day Mango Tasting Festival held at the Mnazi Mmoja grounds in Dar es Salaam from Friday.

The development was announced yesterday by Burton Nsape, who is the Chairman of the Association of mango growers (AMAGRO) in Tanzania who said that this year’s festival was very successful in terms of attendance, interest, sales and new membership.